Tag: Indian

I had never considered visiting Singapore but when last year Jetstar had a buy one get one free flight deal, I thought it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. I had no one to go with but I decided that it was time I experienced travelling solo anyway. I booked the trip to coincide with my 25th birthday and began to plan. When I booked the flights I had just started dating my partner and months later he decided to also join me on this trip.

A week before I left for Singapore I started to wonder how easy it would be to find vegan food over there. I began to compile a list of eateries and to my surprise, Happy Cow had SO many veg*n restaurants listed! During the 8 days that I was in Singapore, not once did I eat at a non veg*n restaurant, that’s how easy it was.

This post is about what I ate at the Fortune Centre. The Fortune Centre is multi-level shopping plaza with at least 10 veg*n eateries inside. It also has a veg*n grocery store which is located on the ground floor. The restaurants I ate at were Herbivore and Gokul’s while at the Fortune Centre however I also had Hotcakes (dessert), Pine Tree Cafe and Vegan Deli on my list that I unfortunately didn’t get the chance to visit.

Gokul’s Vegetarian Restaurant

*Note – Gokul’s Vegetarian Restaurant has a few stores, this is the one at the Fortune Centre and is not to be confused with the one in Little India which has over 100 menu items. I assumed there was only one Gokul’s however this is one of the smaller stores and not everything from their small menu was available when we went up to order. I recommend getting there early, it gets packed!

Mutton Murtabak – This was probably one of my favourite dishes that I tried in Singapore. The bread was really flaky and the filling was delicious. The mutton was slightly chewy but I enjoyed it. The dish came with a sauce which was flavourful and not overly spicy, just what it needed.Rava masala Dosa – I suspect we were served a regular masala dosa as opposed to the rava one we ordered. It was like any other dosa I had tried before, nothing special really.Mamak Mee Goreng – I personally found this dish a bit too bland for my liking however my partner seemed to enjoy it. It came with a sambal on the side which was super spicy and a nice touch. The flavour was improved when I added the left over sauce from the murtabak.Mysore Mutton – The mutton was the same fake meat used in the murtabak. The sauce was delicious and well spiced. Definitely needed some bread or rice to go with it though.

All this plus a can of coke came to $25.50 SGD.

Mamak Mee Goreng

Herbivore

We visited Herbivore for my birthday dinner and we were both somewhat disappointed with the small size and high price of the dishes. The staff were lovely and attentive, constantly refilling our water glasses. Each table has an iPad which is used to order from the menu. The decor more upscale than the rest of the eateries in the fortune centre. Apologies for the lack of proper menu names, I can’t seem to find the menu online anywhere. I didn’t take many pictures either as it was quite dark inside so I ended up using my phone.

Miso soup – Just a regular miso soup with some nori and mushroom pieces.Gyoza – The gyoza filling was great however the wrappers were unlike any I’ve ever had while eating gyoza/dumplings. They were super crunchy and reminded me of spring roll wrappers.Teriyaki Chicken – The chicken was slightly burnt around the edges possibly from the sugary sauce but it was still quite tasty.Mushroom Skewers – I can’t remember what sauce was on the mushrooms but it was delicious and the mushrooms were nicely cooked.Meatball Maki – The standout dish of the night for me, the meatballs were fantastic. I couldn’t pick what they were made of, they weren’t seitan based. The nori which was wrapping the rolls was battered and deep fried which I thought was brilliant and not something I had experienced before.Tuna in Yam – This was our least favourite dish of the night, the tuna pieces were ok but the yam was extremely odd. It was very bland and watery, the texture was also unexpectedly stretchy.

All that set us back around $60 SGD and was our most expensive meal in Singapore.

As I looked through my fridge crisper trying to figure out what to cook for tonight’s dinner, I noticed a few sad looking vegetables staring back at me.

Growing up in an Indian household curry was a staple of my childhood. Potato curry, pumpkin curry, cauliflower curry, if you can think of it, it’s probably been curried. I think this was when I decided to start cooking for myself and experimenting with new cuisines and flavours. Occasionally though, I do crave curries especially now that the weather is getting colder!

The below curry will be different to what most people have tried at Indian restaurants. This curry is made in the Fijian Indian style and does not have a creamy gravy.

Method
Start by preparing all the vegetables (I like to keep the skin on the vegetables). Chop the carrot, zucchini, eggplant and potato into 1cm cubes approximately. Cut the cauliflower into florets, I had to halve my florets because they were massive! With the cauliflower leaves, remove the leafy greens from the tough centre stem for the outer leaves. The inner leaves are much softer so you can leave them whole. Wash the leaves and roughly chop into 2 cm pieces.

Start with adding the oil to a large fry pan over a medium heat and add in the spices. Stir until the oil starts to bubble slightly without the spices burning. Trust me, you don’t want them to burn! Add the potato and carrots, stirring until they are coated in the spice mix. Add 1/4 cup of water, salt and cover for 5 minutes.

Add the cauliflower and another 1/4 of water if the water level seems low. Cook covered for a further 5 minutes.

Next add the eggplant and zucchini and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are nearly cooked through and then add the cauliflower leaves.

Serve with rice, quinoa, cous cous or chapatis.
You can use any vegetables that you have lying around. Alternatively, you can also add coconut milk. Stir through right at the end.